New ‘Friday the 13th’ Film Arriving in 2015

2015 is shaping up to be a major year of franchise releases. That year is already set to be headlined by major summer superhero releases Avengers: Age of Ultron and Batman vs. Superman; not to mention, Star Wars: Episode VII will be arriving in December (and that’s just the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to that year’s blockbuster slate).

However, among all these heroic adventures, the horror genre has been noticeably absent from the 2015 slate, with Fox’s Frankenstein reboot and Insidious: Chapter 3 as the genre’s only scheduled major releases. That looks like it’s about to change, as a modern horror icon is swooping in with a new film of his own.

Paramount has settled on March 13, 2015 as the release date for the latest entry in the long-running Friday the 13th franchise. Incredibly (Appropriately?), the film will mark the 13th big-screen appearance for hockey-masked slasher Jason Voorhees.

No official title, cast or crew has been announced, though Platinum Dunes – the Michael Bay led production company behind the 2009 Friday the 13th reboot as well as other updates to horror classics – will be producing.

The news of another Friday the 13th film is, of course, not really surprising. After all, the reboot was a solid box office hit (earning over $91 million worldwide against a $19 million production budget), and a sequel entered development soon thereafter at Warner Bros. Ultimately, the studio relinquished the screen rights to the Friday the 13th franchise, which fell back into Paramount’s hands as part of a deal that includes Warner Bros.’ co-production on Christopher Nolan’s upcoming sci-fi film, Interstellar.

That being said, it’s still unclear how closely the new Friday the 13th film will tie into the narrative of its predecessor (or if stars Jared Padalecki and Amanda Righetti will reprise their roles). Considering Platinum Dunes’ involvement, it’s possible that Paramount will position this new project as a follow-up to the reboot regardless.

There’s also the lingering notion that this new Friday the 13th may, in fact, employ the ever-popular found footage approach to tell its story. In the past few years, nearly every genre has tried this technique – most notably used by the Paranormal Activity series – but it seems particularly fitting for Friday the 13th. The found footage craze truly originated with 1999 indie The Blair Witch Project, so it’s not much of a stretch to send Jason chasing after teens who just so happen to have a camera on them in the woods.

Are you excited that another Friday the 13th is finally on its way, and does the rumored found footage approach sound like a good fit? Let us know in the comments.